The Rugby Football Union has warned Leicester director of rugby Richard
Cockerill and his Harlequins counterpart, Conor O’Shea, about their future
conduct after recent criticisms of referees.

The RFU was responding to Cockerill’s attack on referee Andrew Small after Leicester’s 17-12 victory over Gloucester at Welford Road on Dec 29 and similarly critical comments by O’Shea’s over the performance of Llyr Apgeraint Roberts during Harlequins’ 31-26 win at London Welsh on Jan 6.

The pair were warned by the governing body that a repeat of their comments could lead to them being charged with bringing the game into disrepute.

The RFU said in a statement that it had “urged both directors of rugby to use the existing agreed feedback process” and it had “reminded them that questioning the integrity of referees in future may lead to their being charged with bringing the game into disrepute under RFU Rule 5.12”.

Cockerill had criticised Small for only sending Gloucester tighthead Shaun Knight to the sin-bin, when he felt his side had dominated the scrum area.

“I am lost for words. I have spent 30 years in the middle of scrums. I coach it every day,” Cockerill said.

“We try to be really professional and then we have to deal with that. It’s just not good enough. It has got to end, enough is enough. He [Small] needs to look at it and see his faults and try and improve. That’s the whole point of coaching, whether you are a referee or a rugby coach.”

O’Shea said of the performance of Llyr Apgeraint Roberts: “I’m unbelievably frustrated, you’d have to go a long way to see worse. Everything was wrong – it was incredible.

“The offside line was irrelevant, trailing runners coming back was irrelevant, backing into the maul, not releasing in the tackle – all irrelevant.

“We have a feedback process for the referees but it’s not actioned upon and it’s very difficult at times.”

Meanwhile, Toulon have further bolstered their stellar cast list, which includes former England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, by confirming the signing of South Africa wing Bryan Habana.

The 29 year-old, who has scored 47 tries in 83 caps for the Springboks, is regarded as one of the most prolific finishers in the world game.

He has signed a three-year deal with the French Top 14 side after confirming his departure from the Western Province and Stormers.

“I would like to thank everyone at Western Province for their support throughout my stay in Cape Town,” Habana said.

“I’ve had three great seasons in the Cape thus far, and I am looking forward to finishing it all off on a high before taking on a new challenge overseas.”